Interesting Chess Game

I just played what I felt was an interesting game of chess. I'm not qualified to make that judgment, but I suppose what's deemed interesting is subjective. The game was clean as far as I'm concerned, as neither of us made any obvious blunders.

Throughout the game we were fairly even. Despite the evenness of the game, I really felt that there was a lot going on, and the tension was high. There was a lot of play in both of us as the game went on. Obviously, as the game progressed, we both missed out on some opportunities to eke out a small gain here and there. Adding up all of the small missed opportunities surely cost one of us the game. However, there was no obvious death blow that was missed.

Ultimately, the game ended in a draw, but I was generally pleased with how it all played out. In the end, I was trailing slightly, but managed to play it to a draw. I am sure it's clear to anyone who actually plays well that our endgames need some work. But, without further ado, here are a few snapshots from the game.

My opponent, playing White, is rated 1464 on RHP. I'm Black with a 1527 rating on that site.

Here's the first snapshot. Note that the board is from Black's perspective so notation is flipped. After White makes move 32, the chess engine estimates that we are dead even.


I move Rb2 seven moves later, and the battle is definitely on. Pieces are about to be cleared off the board. The computer still puts us completely even at this juncture.


Now, we're 50 moves into the game, and I push pawn to f5. The situation is precarious looking at this point. Despite this, we're still pretty even. And, to think that we're only two-thirds of the way through the game.


We get to the final position below after a lot of end game maneuvering. I think it was in the end game where we both missed a good number of chances to take the lead, or preserve one that we'd obtained, whichever the case may be. Finally, at this point, I think it became clear that neither of us was going to win. So, I offered a draw and he accepted it. The computer agrees that this is indeed a drawn position. There you have it... a draw after an intense 72 moves.


I think there's a lot of neat stuff that went on in this game that could not be captured by these four positions. If you're interested in chess, I encourage you to take a look at the full game yourself. The full game can be found below.

Here's the PGN:

[Event "Challenge"]
[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2008.09.11"]
[EndDate "2008.09.17"]
[White "MyOpponent"]
[Black "BruteForce"]
[WhiteRating "1464"]
[BlackRating "1527"]
[WhiteELO "1464"]
[BlackELO "1527"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]

1. d4 d5 2. c3 Ng8f6 3. Nb1d2 Nb8c6 4. e3 e5 5. Bf1e2 e4 6. f3 Bc8f5 7. f4 Qd8d7 8. h3 Bf8d6 9. Nd2f1 Nc6a5 10. Nf1g3 Na5c4 11. Be2xc4 dxc4 12. Ng3xf5 Qd7xf5 13. Qd1a4 Nf6d7 14. Qa4xc4 O-O 15. Bc1d2 a6 16. O-O-O c5 17. Ng1e2 b5 18. Qc4b3 c4 19. Qb3c2 Nd7b6 20. g4 Qf5d5 21. Ne2g3 Rf8e8 22. Bd2e1 Qd5c6 23. Rh1h2 Nb6d5 24. Rh2e2 Nd5b6 25. Ng3f5 a5 26. Kc1d2 b4 27. Rd1b1 bxc3 28. bxc3 Bd6a3 29. Kd2d1 g6 30. Nf5g3 Ra8b8 31. Be1d2 a4 32. Re2e1 Ba3e7 33. Re1f1 Be7h4 34. Ng3e2 a3 35. Ne2c1 Nb6a4 36. Kd1e2 Na4b2 37. Rf1g1 Bh4f6 38. Rg1g2 Nb2d3 39. Ke2f1 Rb8b2 40. Rb1xb2 axb2 41. Nc1xd3 exd3 42. Qc2xb2 Qc6f3 43. Kf1g1 Qf3xh3 44. g5 Bf6g7 45. Qb2c1 h6 46. Qc1e1 f6 47. gxh6 Bg7xh6 48. Rg2xg6 Kg8f7 49. Qe1g3 Qh3h5 50. Rg6g4 f5 51. Rg4h4 Qh5d1 52. Qg3e1 Re8g8 53. Kg1f2 Qd1xe1 54. Bd2xe1 Rg8g6 55. Rh4h2 Rg6a6 56. Kf2f3 Bh6f8 57. e4 fxe4 58. Kf3e3 Ra6b6 59. f5 Bf8d6 60. Rh2g2 Rb6b1 61. Be1d2 Rb1b2 62. Ke3xe4 Rb2xa2 63. Ke4e3 Bd6f8 64. Rg2g6 Ra2a7 65. Ke3f4 Ra7e7 66. Rg6e6 Re7xe6 67. fxe6 Kf7xe6 68. Kf4e4 Bf8d6 69. d5 Ke6f6 70. Ke4d4 Kf6f5 71. Kd4xc4 Kf5e4 72. Bd2h6 Bd6e5 1/2-1/2